Ann Arbor : California State University, Fresno, 1997.
Pages:
59
Language:
English
Abstract:
I was never a full-time child. Being a child is hard enough, but, coming from a patriarchal southeast Asian culture can be particularly difficult. Early responsibilities were handed to me because I am a girl and the oldest of my siblings. After the untimely death of my sister, I only had my brother Pheng; he was my friend, enemy and guardian. Before the end of the Vietnam War was a time of childhood discovery. However, this did not last; I immediately found myself struggling to survive in America, facing foreign words, foreign people. I painfully discovered that I am the foreigner, not those around me and I had to adjust not only to the roles my parents expected of me, but also to my new American roles. Still, the hardest role is being a daughter and a woman that would satisfy my culture, my mother and myself.